Are mothers the target of the Wii? Shigeru Miyamoto speaks

Some surprising and well thought-out insights from Nintendo's secret weapon: …

I like Shigeru Miyamoto because he can break down concepts and make everything seem so simple. He makes it look and sound like anyone can sit down and create games as good as his. Miyamoto sat down with Talk Asia and they spoke about everything Nintendo. We've heard most of this information before, but I liked the bit about the name. We all take the name Wii for granted now, but do you remember how terribly it was taken? Miyamoto talks about the decision:

AR: Before we get into the technicalities of this new system. I'm just going to have to ask you about the name obviously. Nintendo's taken a lot of flack over the fact that it changed it from Revolution. What was wrong with Revolution? Isn't that what this is?

SM: Japanese people have a funny habit of abbreviating names. For instance if you have a "Family Computer," people call it "Famicom". We at Nintendo had thought of giving it a name that can not be abbreviated. It is a very short official name, and we wanted to add other words to create a new additional name. Such as "Wii Sports" "Wii Play" and so on. We debated how the Wii might be thought of in the English speaking countries. And we came to a conclusion that there is no other choice but to use this short, appealing name.

See? He can take something as ridiculous as naming your new console the "Wii" and make it sound like it was the best thing possible. If you are skeptical about Nintendo's strategy with the Wii, take a look at this:

AR: There is still though a really big chasm between those who are gamers and those who are non-gamers. To the latter group, playing a game on a computer is more like hard work than anything else. How do you go about bridging that divide.

SM: I think anyone can enjoy video games. But some people shy away from them, just by looking at the shape of the console, or they think it is complicated when they have to plug the machine into their television set. However, I think if it is something that is simple to connect and play, it can be enjoyed by anybody, especially if they can interact with the characters.

We also have to think about the themes of the games. There is an abundance of themes that people are interested in, and video games have only touched on few of them. Nintendo is trying to diversify the gaming genre, offering new themes to the players. There are so many left to do. By introducing these available themes into video games, it will help people relate to the games better, and we may even be able to convert them into those who can not live without video games.

This isn't just a matter of jawing, you can tell Nintendo is sincere about this stance. It shows in everything from their controllers to how they design the systems themselves. Both the DS Lite and the Wii both scream to be touched, to be played with. They're not scary. In fact, they're inviting, even if you don't play games. Everyone I know asks themselves over to my house when they find out I have a Wii.

Shiggy is a great spokesman; I love reading these interviews. Even if you disagree with his views, he has a very smooth spin about him.